Driving mechanism for printing presses



Sept. 13, 1932. A. J. CLINE'.

DRIVING MECHANISM FOR PRINTING PRESSES Filed Aug. 8. 11931 Patented Sept. '13, 1932' U Nl'I'EDi-STATES .PATEN'D. orrlcs j ALLAN .1; cLnm, or cn'rcnoo, rumorsnmvnm msommsn roafrninrme rmissiis Application mea u m e. um.- Serial'Ro. 555,950;

This invention relates to printing presses and particularly to certain improvements in press-drives; l

. In my Patent No. 1,734,077, issued Novem- 5 ber 5, 1929, there is shown and described a unit type press in which the separate units of the press, as well as the folders, are each driven from a separate motor. In said patent the individual drive motors are. arranged l0 withtheir armatures extending parallel to the spindles of the driven press cylinders,

the armatures being connected to the respective cylinder'spindles by means of a chain drive. The armature shafts of the individual motors are therein shown as being connected by means of suitable gearing to an equalizing shaft which extends along the side of the press, the several units being thus intercon- I nected' to maintain perfect synchronism between the various units of the press. I

I have found that a more eflicient arrange ment of the individual drive motors may be obtained by placing the individual motors inaxial alignment with one another since the several armature shafts may then be direct-' 1y interconnected to equalize the speed of the 1 separate press units without requiring the use of a gear eonnection'between each motor armature and the equalizing shaft. With I 30 this arrangement of the motors I also dispense with the chain type of ,drive disclosed in my patent above referred to, the individual units, and the folders, being directly connected through suitable power take-ofl' shafts with tlieir. respective drive motors.

' The invention will be fully understood from the following detailed description, 'taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, wherein I have shown a preferred 4 arrangement of the press drives.

Referring to the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a broken elevational view, partly in section, showing a portion of a'unit press embodying the. improved drive mechanism; Fig. 2 is a detail section taken on line 2-2 of Fig. 1, the view illustrating a portion of the driving connectionbetween one of the motor armature shafts and a power take-off shaft; and

Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2 showing grammatically.

a modified type of gearing-which may be used to connect the'motorarmature shaft with the take-off shaft leading to the press unit.

In conformity with the usual practice in unit type press construction, the individual, printing units, andfolders, are arranged in a continuous row and are mounted in the 'press frame of which the uprights 5 and top bar 6 .are shown. Each of the printing units comprises a pair of printing couples, the first couple consisting of an impression cylinder 8 and a printing cylinder 9, and the second" couple similarly consisting of an impression cylinder 11 and a printing cylinder 12."

It will be understood that the couples of each unit are interconnected by suitable gearing (not shown) whereby theyaredriven in unison with one another by means of power to the spindles which support the driven I To press cylinders. The web is drawn into the press from a web roll which is located below the press' room floor 7. After passing through the printing unit the web is guided over suitable guide rollers 14, and thence passes to a folder '15 where the webs from the several units are reduced to page form. According to the usual practice, one side of the web is printed in the first couple of the unit and the other side is printed in the second couple of the unit, both sides of the page; being thus printed ina single unit.

- The folder 15 is shown more or less dia-' One of the driven folder rollers is indicated at 16, the shaft 17 which supports said roller being connected by suitablegearing to a bevelled gear wheel 18 to which power is supplied'by the drivesystem hereinafter described. The top rollers of the folder;(not shown) are similarly arranged to be driven froma bevelled gear wheel 19. 1

Each of the printing units, as well-as folder 15, is arranged to be driven from separate motors which, in the present embodiment, are positioned below the press room floor.- The printing unit drive motors are indicated by the numeral 21 and the folder drive motor is indicated by the number 22. 7 Each of these motors is hung by brackets 23 from the press room floor 7. Power is supplied directly to the gear wheels 13 from their corresponding motors 21, the drive connection for each unit consisting of a vertically disposed shaft 25, the upper end of which carries a bevelled pinion 26 which meshes with bevelled gear wheel 13. The lower end of shaft carries a worm wheel 27 which meshes with a worm gear 28,"the latter being rigid on the armature shaft 29 of the motor 21. A clutch 31 is providedin each of the shafts 25 so that the separate printing units may be disconnected when it may not be desired to employ them in thecombination of units employed for a particularrun of the press.

Power is supplied to the folder 15 through gear wheels 18 and'19 from motor 22, the driving connection consisting of a vertically disposed take-off shaft 32 which carries bevelled pinions 3'3 and 34 which mesh, respectively, with gear wheels 18 and 19. Shaft 32 carries on its lower end a worm wheel which meshes with a worm gear 35 carried in the accommodation of the several printing units and the folders to particular runs, and also in dispensing with the heavy power transmission equipment required when a single large motor is employed for driving several units.

As previously stated, one of the objects of the present invention is to provide an improved arrangement for the individual drive motors. In said patent above referred to, the individual motors are positioned with their armature shafts parallel to the press cylinders, a chain drive being employed to connect the motor with the driven press cylinder. 'Such an arrangement requires that each motor be provided with gear connec-' tions associating it with the equalizing shaft of the system. It will be noted that accord ing to my invention, the motors 21 and also the motor 22, are positioned in axial alignment with one another. With this arrangement of the motors, it is not necessary to connect each one through a separate gear box to a common equalizing shaft. It is merely necessary to connect-the motors together by means of shafting 38 which in effect is but a continuation of the armature shafts of the motors. Since, however, shafting 38 is merely employed for equalizing purposes, it need not necessarily be of as heavy construction as the portions of the armature shafts lying between .the motors and the power take-ofi' shafts 25 and 32. No great amount the press room floor as shown. When thus located the motors are completely out of the way and do not interfere with the work of the pressmen in the make-ready operations and in such operations as for example, at: ta'ching an auxiliary color unit to the press. With the motors located below the press room floor in the manner shown, I have found that it is particularly desirable to employ a worm drive'for connecting take-off shafts 25 and.

32 with their respective armature shafts. The advantage in using a worm drive resides primarily in the fact that it permits of the location of take-off shafts 25 and 32 close to the press frame. This is best illustrated in F ig. 2. In this figure it will be noted that the columns-41, which support the press, are located in approximate-alignment with the frame uprights 5. The great weight of the press requires that a direct support of this nature be provided. By reason of this location of the press columns, it is necessary to position the motors some distance from the side of the press. the motor must necessarily be displaced from the side of the press a distance at least half the width of the motor. However, by using the worm wheel 27 on the lower end of shaft 25, the distance the motorarmature is offset from the side of the press is accounted for in the width of the gear. Hence, it is not necessary to-bring shaft 25 very far from the press frame. The take-off shafts 25, as well as the folder take-off shaft 32, can thus be located close to the press frame even though the construction of the press sub-- be preferred over the worm gear drive, it is generally considered less desirable by reason of the fact that the power take-off shafts cannot be located as close to the press frame as they can in the case where the worm drive is used as shown in Fig. 2. With the hypoid.

gears themaximum off-set betweenthe takeoff shafts and the armature shafts would be about one-fifth of the pitch diameter of gear 42.

The armature shaft of Y terms? 3 It will be understood that the press shown is merely intended to be illustrative of one arrangement of the unit type press to which the invention may be applied. Such varia tions in press construction, as forexample, the provision of separate drives for each couple of a printing unit, are to be considered as fully within the scope of the invention.

The foregoing detailed description has been given for clearness of understanding only, and no unnecessary limitations should be understood therefrom, but the appended claims should be construed as broadly as permissible in view of the prior art.

What I regard as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A unit type press comprising a series of associated printing units, individual motors for driving each of said units, said motors being positioned with their armature shafts in axial alignment with one another, and connecting means extending between said armature shafts forequalizing the speed of the motors.

2. A unit type press comprising a series of associated printing units, folders arranged at intervalsin the series, an individual motor for driving each printingunit andeach folder,

said motors being positioned with their armature shafts in axial alignment with one another, and connecting means extending between said armature shafts for equalizing the speed of the motors.

3. A unit type press comprising a series of associated printing units, individual motors for drivin being positioned with their armature shafts in axial alignment with one another, connecting' means extendin between said armature shafts for equjalizmg the speed of the motors, and a power transmission shaft connecting each motor with its associated printing unit.

4. A unit type press comprising a series of associated printing units, individual motors for driving each of said units, said motors being positioned with their armature shafts in axial alignment with one another, connecting means extending between said armature shafts for equalizing the speed of the motors, a power transmission shaft connecting each motor .with its associated printing unit, and coupling means insaid transmission shaft for disconnecting the unit from its drive motor.

5. A unit type press comprising a series of associated printing units, individual motors for driving each of said. units, said motors being disposed below and to one side of the press frame and positioned with their armature shafts in axial alignment with one another, connecting means extending between said armature shafts for equalizing the speed of the motors, and a power transmission shaft extending between the armaeach of said units, said-motors ture shaft of each motor and its associated printing unit, said transmission shafts being disposed in a plane which is offset from the plane of the motor arma-.

ture shafts.

6. A unit type press comprising a series of associated printing units, individual motors for driving each of said units, said motors being disposed below and to one side driven press cylinder, and a worm gear drive connection between said shaft and the motor armature shaft.

7. A unit type press comprising a series of associated printing units, individual motors for driving each .of said units, said motors being disposed below and to one side of the press frame and positioned with their armature shafts in axial alignment with one another, connecting means'extending between said armature shafts for equalizing the speed of the motors, and power transmission means connecting each motor with its associated printing unit comprising a shaft extending between the motor armature shaft and the driven press cylinder, and a hy oid gear drive connection between said shaft and the motor armature shaft. I

In jgitness whereof, I hereunto subscribe m. "man-1e to this specification.

. ALLAN J. CLINE. 

